


Out of the Rain

by serenbach



Category: Lewis (TV)
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-19
Updated: 2013-02-19
Packaged: 2017-11-29 21:18:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/691539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serenbach/pseuds/serenbach
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When investigating an old case, Lewis and Hathaway get caught in the rain.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Out of the Rain

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ComplicatedLight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ComplicatedLight/gifts).



> A [trope meme](http://seren-bach.livejournal.com/30027.html?view=85323#t85323/) fill for ComplicatedLight who requested Lewis/Hathaway and 'huddling for warmth.'

They hadn’t expected the rain. 

They should have, of course, as spring weather was notoriously unpredictable, but the day had started out bright and fine, and since things were thankfully quiet at work, they’d both agreed to look over some old cases for Innocent. And when things remained quiet, they’d leapt at the chance to leave the office and poke around at an old crime scene.

The half-mile walk through the woods to find the clearing where the body had been found seven years ago hadn’t seemed like a bad idea at the time, either. 

“I don’t think we’ll find much,” Hathaway pointed out, looking at the crime scene. “It already looks entirely different from the photographs.”

Lewis nodded his agreement. The clearing was wider, for a start, and a tree had fallen right where the body had been found. But then again, neither of them had expected to discover anything new, but visiting the crime scene helped to clarify the notes from a case neither of them had worked on.

“The body was discovered here,” Hathaway continued, placing a hand on the fallen tree. “And SOCO reported that the ground had been churned up where you’re standing, but no clear prints had been found due to the heavy rain-”

Almost as if his words had summoned it, the first raindrop hit Lewis on the face. He wiped it away as Hathaway pulled a face.

“Do you want to call it a day, sir?” Hathaway asked him.

“Nah,” he replied. “It’s just a bit of drizzle. Besides, if we head back now we’ll probably just end up _filing_ or something just as bad.”

“Heaven forefend,” Hathaway replied dryly, but dutifully went back to reconstructing the crime scene from the notes in his hand.

Ten minutes later, when the rain had plastered his hair almost flat to his head and Hathaway was forced to put his notebook in his pocket in order to protect it, Lewis finally accepted that the rain wasn’t going to stop anytime soon.

“Let’s head back now, lad,” Lewis called, having to raise his voice to be heard over the rain, even across the small distance to where Hathaway stood. 

“Good idea,” he replied, somehow managing to convey an ‘I told you so’ despite his polite tone. Lewis rolled his eyes and led the way back to their car.

“Is it just me,” Hathaway said, a little while later, almost directly into his ear to ensure he was heard, “or have the woods grown since we entered them?”

Lewis sighed. He’d just been thinking that they should have reached the car by now. “Not just you,” he replied glumly. The woods weren’t particularly large, definitely not large enough to be seriously lost in, but he didn’t feel like tramping through them in rain to try and find the track that led directly back to the car.

“We could just keep going,” Hathaway continued. “We won’t miss the car by any more than a mile or so. Or we could go back to the clearing and try to find the right track this time.”

Lewis looked up at Hathaway as he considered, blinking rain out of his eyes as he did so. While he’d been wearing his suit jacket, Hathaway was just in a pale blue shirt that had turned almost translucent with water and was clinging to his thin frame. He was also shivering, and valiantly pretending that he was doing no such thing. 

The trees were thicker where they standing, most of the rain deflected by the overlapping leaves, though they were still being quite frequently dripped on. But still, it was the driest spot they’d found since the rain had started. 

“We could just wait it out here,” Lewis said, moving to shelter more directly under a tree. “It won’t last much longer.”

“That’s what you said last time,” Hathaway replied, but came to huddle next to him, their arms and shoulders pressing together. Lewis felt much warmer suddenly, far warmer than just body heat could account for, but he was glad of it as he felt Hathaway’s shivers lessen.

And while he wasn’t disappointed to be proven right, as the rain gradually slowed and then stopped just a few minutes later, he was oddly reluctant to peel himself away from Hathaway and continue their walk.

They had only taken a very small wrong turn, it turned out, and once they’d reached the outskirts of the woods it didn’t take them long to locate his car. He turned the heater up, and looked over at his still-damp sergeant. 

“Back to mine? You can borrow something to change into, for now. Innocent won‘t appreciate it if we spend the rest of the day dripping on things.”

Hathaway snorted at the image and nodded his agreement.

Later, once they’d both showered and changed (Hathaway into clothes that were just a little too short in the arms and legs; he’d done his best not to laugh) and were sat drinking tea on his sofa, Lewis realised that they were pressed together just as closely as they’d been in the woods, and body heat was not an excuse that time. 

It didn’t take him much longer to come to the further realisations that this sort of proximity to his sergeant wasn’t unusual, rain or otherwise, and that he really didn’t mind it at all.


End file.
